Picture This: Another 2065 Night of Clarity

Tom stood in the hallway, up late as usual.

"The desk could be on the other side of the room."
"You're thinking of the future, not now."
"You honor me to think that I'm thinking at all."
"Do you think so?"
"It's commendable that you seem to be studying."
"Seem to?"
"You're not, right?"
"Of course I am. For all posterity."
"For all posterity."

-- doug smith


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Picture This:
1. Find a random image (truly, close your eyes!)
2. Write for two minutes, inspired by that image.
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Create the Treasure

The creative life creates the treasure.

-- doug smith

Five Minutes: The Parade at the Hub

She spilled her hot coffee right in my lap. I didn't know if I was more angry or more in pain. She'd been balancing a full arm load of books, her phone, and her hot coffee. Oh, if only the phone had landed in my lap.

"Oops, sorry..." she said, as if she'd tapped my shoe with her toe.
"What the heck! Are you kidding me?" I think I said, although it might well have been peppered with some saucy language often heard in a commercial kitchen or volunteer fire house. I was not please. She kept on walking.

The coffee, about half escaped and half still in her cup, caused me to jump up and though I had nothing to spill, my journal did hit the floor and tear the page I was writing on. Stream of consciousness meet scream of coffee.

She kept on walking, still holding half a cup of coffee and whatever important information was displaying on her phone.

Be calm, I told myself. Maybe I shouldn't have been sitting on the floor. Maybe I should be glad the whole cup didn't hit me. Maybe I should change my pants.

Coffee. It's so much better to drink it than to spill it.

-- doug smith

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Five Minutes:
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1. Write without stopping for five minutes.
2. Add a random (if possibly related) image.

Make It Appear Real

The trouble with bad improv is that it looks fake. Maybe the actors are having fun -- they're certainly getting bigger and bigger with their broad attempts at humor -- but it makes me squirm when I see someone acting. Obviously, acting in ways that say "isn't this funny?" and "aren't we all cool?"

No, it's not funny. And, no, it's not cool. Improv is bigger than that, better than that, much harder than that.

Real improv looks real. Characters are developed. Plots evolve instead of becoming fabricated. Dialogue sounds like overheard conversations with built in subtle yet compelling drama.

That's asking a lot from improv, which is why it's so rare. But what if you delivered at that level? What if we each took our improv to a level that is even with the best acting available?

What if no one could tell that you were improvising?

Wouldn't that be amazing?

-- doug smith

Workshop: Improv for Everyone!

If you're in or near Bucks County, PA, here is a great chance to explore and practice improv.

Sign up here

Do Not Go For The Laugh

The first mistake I see many improv actors making is trying to be funny. It's not funny. It's too broad. It's not real.

What is funny? Characters who are making the best of bad situations, and still failing. Characters who think they are making things better but are really making things more complicated. Sincere, realistic, true-to-life characters. Not too big. Not with funny voices. And, absolutely, no sound effects!

It's much funnier if you don't go for the laugh.

-- doug smith

Improv as Reality

Done right, done real, improv adds reality to a scene and to a performance. Responding in time by building on the ideas of the other performers, rather than trying to steal the show with an impressive show of your own skills - can turn even the most preposterous of pretexts into great texts, great moments, real-feeling moments of artistic joy.

Improvising in collaboration, egos aside, serving the scene.

Improv can add just the touch of reality that any fantasy needs.

-- doug smith